While We’re Waiting… LeBron vs. Wade, Browns Free Agent News, and the Future of Andy Marte
March 3, 2009What Would You Do if the Browns Traded Brady Quinn?
March 3, 2009Cavaliers 107, Miami 100 (Box)
No excuses. The Cavaliers have picked up that mantra again. Believe me, had they lost tonight everyone else would have made excuses for them. Four games in five nights against playoff teams on the road? Stuck at the Atlanta airport because of snow (!), getting 5 hours of sleep before tip-off? No Ben Wallace? Can’t say that we’d have blamed them if they lost. Especially with the energy and desire D-Wade displayed. What a performance.
Despite what Austin Carr was saying, this team looked exhausted to me. They were putting forth effort, no question about that, but it just didn’t seem like they had much in the tank. Even the bench was relatively subdued in the first three quarters. They were walking quite slow back to the bench for time-outs. It wasn’t until that fourth quarter barrage that they finally lept to life.
Down by 11, with a little over 7 minutes left to go in the game, my wife asked “they’re going to lose aren’t they?” My reply, “Yep.”
Oh boy was I wrong.
This could be one of those defining moment type of wins. No quitting in this group. Once they figured out how to slow down Wade, they were like sharks smelling blood, circling the ball. A steal here, a blocked shot there. Andy takes a charge. Mo delivers a dagger. Bam, Cavs lead. Or read it for yourself-
Mo Williams makes 24-foot three point jumper. Michael Beasley lost ball (Anderson Varejao steals.) LeBron James makes dunk (Mo Williams assists.) Mario Chalmers bad pass (Anderson Varejao steals.) Mo Williams makes three point jumper (Anderson Varejao assists.) Jamario Moon misses 25-foot three point jumper. Dwyane Wade misses two point shot. Dwyane Wade offensive foul (Anderson Varejao draws the foul.) Udonis Haslem misses layup. Zydrunas Ilgauskas makes 19-foot jumper (Delonte West assists.) Anderson Varejao blocks Udonis Haslem’s layup. Mo Williams makes 8-foot two point shot.
As impressive as that 3 minute sequence was, we can’t forget what kept us in the game. Yep, LeBron’s shooting. Perfect from the foul line, and 6 of 7 from behind the arc. That and Zydrunas’ rebounding. Z was a beast on the offensive glass, and finished with 15 rebounds total.
Here’s what wasn’t impressive- the Cavalier bench. Daniel Gibson was 1 for 5 and couldn’t stay anywhere near Wade. He kept going behind the screen leaving Wade wide open for a jumper. He played only 9 minutes and forced Mike Brown to insert Sasha Pavlovic in the game, even though I’m certain neither Mike nor Sasha wanted that to happen. The man was wearing the boot brace over his warm-ups. But as bad a night as Daniel had, J.J. Hickson killed us.
Hickson was forced into 17 minutes himself, partially because Wally Szczerbiak had 5x as many turnovers and fouls as points. Watching Miami waltz past J.J. I started to wonder what his +/- would end up being. Would you believe -17? That’s right, every minute on the floor cost the Cavs another point. When does Joe Smith get into town?
But what a great win for LeBron, Mo, Andy, Delonte (who scared us all by falling on that wrist again!) and Z. They played their hearts out, and win lose or draw at the end, I would have written the same thing. Except of course the excuses would have been flying…
Photo: Copyright 2009 NBAE (Photo by Victor Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images)
20 Comments
Helluva game last night. Huge win. Sasha guarding DWade almost gave me a heart attack. JJ Hickson doesn’t seem like the sharpest crayon in the box. Mo Williams was money.
(Not my most coherent post, but whatevs.)
A fantastic win. Speaking of potential excuses, let’s not forget in the effort against Atlanta, Mike Brown decided to go “all-in” and play LeBron the entire fourth quarter and play the rest of the starters most of the 4th as well. I thought for sure that would catch up to us last night, especially after we fell down by 11 with only 7 minutes left. Amazingly, Brown had his starters log the same type of heavy minutes and they put together as good of a stretch as I’ve seen all year from this team at both ends of the court. No doubt that the team’s offense flows from its intensity on defense.
Rick, I’m glad you brought up the bench though. This was the second straight night that the bench gave us NOTHING. Joe Smith is very needed and JJ just can’t seem to get his head completely where it needs to be. The game just seems to be passing him by when he’s out there. Ironically, Wally is playing a lot worse now after the deadline than he was before thed deadline, when you would have thought the trade rumors would have distracted him. And Boobie is just an outright liability at this point. He can’t make shots, and he’s getting beat consistently at the defensive end. It’s clear to me that the toe injury is playing a big role in his demise. If Sasha’s health is up to it, I’d like to see Brown rest Boobie and see if Sasha can step up. If you figure that Brown will use a 9 man rotation in the playoffs, Boobie and Sasha are going to probably be battling it out for that second guard off the bench role.
What a game!!
And do you realize that if Joe Smith comes back to the Cavs (which it seems highly likely he is) for the rest of the year, it would be like we traded Damon Jones straight up for Mo Williams?! All hail Danny Ferry!!
@ AMC- and where in the world was Tarence Kinsey??? Guy goes from getting the starting nod at #2 to no minutes? He would have been the better choice to get Daniel’s minutes…
@ Windy City- I’ve written before that Hickson isn’t the brightest player, and from what I hear, that may be why he slipped a little in the draft. It concerns me a bit to be honest with you that he might not ever live up to his potential because of it.
Sometimes I forget JJ is only a 20 year old kid though. He may seem like he’s making a lot of mistakes but I’m really not worried about his potential yet. I don’t know anyone in any field of work that can come in their first year and perform better than someone who’s been on the job for 5 or 6 years. Plus I know when I was 20 I definatetly did not know everything about my career I know now. I’m more worried about Gibson and his fall from grace. If its his toe throwing his shot off he needs to take a little more time and get healthy, if its not the toe, then he needs to be pulling all nighters with the shooting coach at the gym. Did you see that wide open 3 he bricked in the 4th? I swear Miami just let him shoot it, no one was even close to guarding him and he took a good second or two to set, and still missed.
@ Rick – Agreed about Kinsey – after logging some quality minutes before his injury, he’s completely disappeared from the rotation. He may not be the biggest offensive threat, but he hustles his a*s off and is a downright pest at the defensive end. With Gibson not making shots, he’s got to be an upgrade – unless of course, he’s also not healthy.
I don’t want to overrate Tarence Kinsey, but he would have been the perfect sub for last night’s game. He plays D, is athletic on the break. Wally looked like he was running through mud last night on every possession. They needed someone to defend and play up-tempo. Yet, Mike Brown leaves Kinsey on the bench in favor of a just returning Pavlovic?
I give Mike Brown credit for getting himself off my list of coaches that MUST be fired, but his inability to manage rotations in the past was one of the main reasons that it used to be my rallying cry.
Good thing the game wasn’t on national TV. Way to drop the ball, EVERYONE.
Good to see Andy coming up clutch during that huge stretch.
JJ is not even two years removed from High School. Lets give him some time.
Very happy Joe Smith is coming to town. JJ getting playoff minutes is a very scary thing.
jj will learn, otherwise he better find a water bowl, cause he ain’t gettin outta mb’s doghouse.
can’t wait to see joe back in the wine and gold.
and although our guys were obviously tired with the 4th game in 5 nights, and the whole plane trouble, the last 2 nights are an example of why you should take care of business against crappy teams early in the year. all those games where lebron sat the 4th? it has payed off over the last 2 nights.
that’s why you take care of business early on, because as the season progresses, the bad teams get a little better and you get a run for your moolah every night.
“Good thing the game wasn’t on national TV.”
Those broadcasts are saved for our big rivals.
3/12 against Phoenix
3/19 against Portland
3/22 against New Jersey
3/29 against Dallas
4/02 against Washington…
WFNY night in DC will be nationally televised. Getcha popcorn ready.
LeBron’s late drive and dunk shot my adrenaline so high that beddie-bye time had to delayed an extra 30 minutes. But besides his usual heroics, I thought Andy’s 4th quarter intensity was just off the charts. He put himself in the middle of every play and had his hand on every ball while people were knocking the snot out of him. I’ve been a big critic of his inability to learn any type of low post move, but what he brought in the 4th quarter last night was positively Rodman-like. You can win a lot of close games with efforts like that.
Gibson needs to rest up before the playoffs so he can turn it on the way he has in the past, he usually comes up with a few big games during the post season that always leave us wondering how good he could be, then we see him go through long stretches like this that remind us all of why hes a bench player.
Maybe Brown is not planning on using TK in the play offs (hasn’t seen him enough yet to trust him?) and so hes going with the Booby/Pavlovic whichever works method, although Sasha spent enough time on the bench during last year’s play offs to get splinters in his ass.
Wally’s current performance is just demoralizing, maybe we’ve logged too many minutes on him when he was in the starting rotation and hes just wearing down now.
“Good thing the game wasn’t on national TV. Way to drop the ball, EVERYONE.”
Well, they have been on a lot lately…
@ Rick – Thank God for Slingbox, which allows me to see the local telecasts from DC…
D West falling on that wrist is scary….hopefully unfortunate news doesn’t pop out today or tomorrow
Great win last night…these guys are for real!
Windy reports the cavs have agreed to terms with Joe Smith. YEESSSSSS!
http://www.cleveland.com/cavs/index.ssf/2009/03/joe_smith_agrees_to_terms_with.html